THE family of Bokgabo Poo who was brutally killed and her body mutilated left court shattered.
This comes after murder accused Ntokozo Zikhali was found not guilty by the Pretoria High Court, sitting in the Benoni Magistrates Court on Monday, 7 August.
Murder accused Ntokozo Zikhali (30) has been acquitted of rape, murder, violation of a corpse and obstruction of justice. Passing the verdict, acting judge Ian Cox said there was no substantial evidence that linked the accused to the crime.
He said this matter brought no evidence before the court. He said: "This means the application by accused's defence, Advocate Anneke Van Wyk, to discharge the accused is granted. The accused is found not guilty on the four charges he was facing."
Judge Ian said the CCTV video showed Bokgabo playfully running from the direction of the park, passing the street and disappearing from the view.
"The video continues showing her walking down the street with the park on her right hand side crossing the intersection and shortly after, the deceased reappears. The accused continues with his journey walking in the street while the deceased walks on the left side.
ALSO READ - PICS: Couple's KISS of death!
He said the footage did not show there was interaction with each other at all, or they acknowledged each other or even aware of each other’s presence. He said anything could have happened further down the street.
"Anyone else may have come across this child and committed this horrendous crime. The only circumstances in this matter is that the accused was seen walking next to the deceased in the same street."
The mutilated body of the four-year-old Bokgabo was found in a veld in Wattville after she went missing on 10 October 2022 while playing with a friend in Masoleng Park.
Bokgabo’s mum Tsholofelo Poo said they had been in and out court with the hope that Zikhali would be found guilty on all charge.
“The state failed to prove that Ntokozo was indeed in the park and was the last seen with my daughter. The poor analysis of the video. They said there is no way that Ntokozo might be the one who took Bokgoba because of there’s no direct interaction between the two.”
She said they were not happy with the police's investigation as from their observation of the video, Ntokozo was the one who allegedly kidnapped Bokgabo.
"The prosecutor, Eric Sihlangu tried his best but nothing could be proven because there were statements missing. The police didn’t do thorough investigation, even with the cause of death. We found out last week that it was via mutilation."
She said there was no record of the object that might killed her. She said cops had failed to get a statement from a boy that was with Bokgabo when Ntokoza allegedly approached them at the park.
"It is difficult to be living in South Africa nowadays because if you sue the state, nothing will come out of it, because Ntokozo is the one who took Bokgabo," she said.
Bokgabo’s father Irvin Ndlovu said he was very hurt about the court verdict. He said there was no justice for his daughter.
He said: “I anticipated the verdict when during the court break they called cops inside the court. It was clear they will find him not guilty. Why they disregard the accused's confession because he was last seen in the video with my daughter.”
